Review: "Throne of Jade" and "Black Powder War" by Naomi Novik

It's always nice when you get to read the books in a series back to back. Usually in fantasy series, you get hooked with the first book and then end up waiting a year or more for each installment, in the process forgetting a little about each world and story. So it was nice to see Naomi Novik's most recent two books in the Temeraire series, "Throne of Jade" and "Black Powder War" (both $7.50, Del Rey), follow hot on the heels of the first book, "His Majesty's Dragon."

I was truly impressed by the first installment, and immediately immersed myself in the second and third tales. For those who missed my review of the first book a few weeks back, Temeraire is a dragon intended as a gift for Napoleon from the emperor of China. His egg was intercepted by a British ship during the Napoleonic Wars, and he ended up bonded to the ship's captain Will Laurence.

In "Throne of Jade," the Chinese royalty have decided that Laurence is not fit to be a companion to a Celestial dragon, intended only for royalty. So he and Temeraire have been called to China, where they expect attempts to separate them from each other. In the process, they find themselves embroiled in a struggle for power between the emperor who is open to communication with the Western world and a faction led by a prince who opposes Western influence.

Having struggled through their confrontation with the emperor of China, Temeraire and Laurence expect to soon return to England in "Black Powder War." Temeraire, much to Laurence's dismay, is excited about the possibility of bringing the living standards of England's dragons up to those of China's, who are treated as equals, and often betters, by humans. Instead, they get an urgent missive ordering them to go to Istanbul to retrieve three dragon eggs purchased by the British government. Their ship damaged by a fire, they are forced to travel overland where they face not only the challenge of the journey and ongoing war, but also a Celestial who feels wronged by them.

I love dragon tales, and Novik's books are easily the best dragon stories I've read in years. Hers is a rare and refreshing original take on dragons, imagining a hierarchy and community of dragons on a scale that has rarely been attempted.

Making the stories even better is the fact that Novik is also an excellent writer with the skills to bring her creation to life and make the reader care deeply about Temeraire and his captain. When you're reading a story where the characters are wronged and you find yourself trembling with anger at the injustice, you know the writer has crafted something powerful. It happened to me more than once during these books.

If you're a lover of dragon tales or a fan of historical military adventure (who can accept the existence of mythical beasts, of course), do yourself a favor at check out this series.

Review: "His Majesty's Dragon" by Naomi Novik

Having read fantasy for more than 20 years, I think I've seen dragons used in just about every way possible. But on rare occasion, I'll run into a book like Naomi Novik's "His Majesty's Dragon" ($7.50, Del Rey).

Originally published under the title "Temeraire" in the U.K., the alternate history begins aboard the ship of British Capt. Will Laurence during the Napoleonic Wars. When Laurence captures a French frigate, he's thrilled to discover a dragon egg in the hold. He's less thrilled to find it is near to hatching. Knowing the dragon's value to his country's Aerial Corps and knowing it must be bound early to be controlled, he and his officers draw straws to see which one will attempt to harness the dragon. But when the egg hatches, the beast ignores the man attempting to harness it and instead bonds with Laurence. Knowing his duty, he accepts that he will have to give up his proud and comfortable Navy life to become an aviator.

As the dragon, named Temeraire after a ship Laurence once admired, grows, the captain's reluctant sense of duty gives way to a deep affection for the dragon. The bond is strengthened when they discover that Temeraire is, in fact, a Chinese Imperial dragon, an extremely rare and intelligent breed and further through their experiences in training and action.

At heart, this is the story of a man and his dragon, and with Novik's considerable talents, if it were left at that it would probably still be worth a read. But here she gives us so much more, including a completely different view of fantasy's most popular creature.

"His Majesty's Dragon" reads a bit like one of Patrick O'Brian's naval adventures, except, of course, that it takes place hundreds of feet above the ground. Full crews scrambling around atop a moving dragon, cheating death with every move, provide for some truly awesome imagery.

Even more interesting is the personality that Novik injects into her dragons. Each beast is as distinctive and well-developed as her human characters, perhaps even moreso at times. It leaves the reader longing to meet more of them.

Though this is Novik's debut, it certainly doesn't read like one. In fact, "His Majesty's Dragon" is easily one of the best fantasies I've read in a long, long time. It's a must-read for both dragon-lovers and fans of historical adventure novels.

Review: "Proven Guilty" by Jim Butcher

Whenever a new installment in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files arrives on the shelves, it's bad news for the books in my to-be-read stack. They're all going to get bumped down a spot.

Since discovering Butcher's wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden with 2001's "Fool Moon," the tales of the modern-day magician have consistently entertained me more than any other writer in the past five years. His latest, "Proven Guilty" ($23.95, Roc), is no exception.

The secret war between the Red Court of vampires and the wizards' White Council is heating up, and Dresden, a newly named Warden, has been given a covert mission to find out why the Summer Court of the fey isn't aiding the wizards. But Harry's got bigger problems on his plate. He's fighting an inner battle against the fallen angel Lasciel, who is trying to tempt him to unleash her power. More pressing, he's just gotten a report of some big-time black magic going down in his hometown of Chicago.

When fans at a horror convention suddenly start becoming targets of the big-screen monsters they're celebrating, Harry is on the case. But when he discovers the source of that magic, it hits Harry close to home and may force him to further stretch his already strained relations with the White Council.

"Proven Guilty" turns out to be one of the best installments in the series so far, as it shows the series maturing, with plots and character motivations digging deeper than just battling the bad guys. It tackles some tougher emotions and questions about good and evil, graying a line that's been fairly clear in the previous installments.

There's also a lot more fun to be had here as Butcher tosses out pop culture references a little more easily than in past volumes. While he often doesn't use the real names of the Hollywood baddies, horror fans will recognize a lot of popular monsters, and even a few obscure ones, here.

We're eight books into the Dresden Files now, and instead of running out of steam, the series seems to be getting stronger with each volume. With a two-hour Dresden Files pilot directed by Nicolas Cage set to air on the Sci-Fi Channel this summer, it's a safe bet we'll be seeing a lot more of Harry Dresden. That sounds like good news to me.

Review: "Traitor to the Blood" by Barb and J.C. Hendee

I've got several of the Noble Dead books by Barb and J.C. Hendee in the box of books I plan to read some day. They've always looked interesting to me, but I've always seemed to get them at a time where I was just tired of vampire books.

When the latest in the series, and their hardcover debut, "Traitor to the Blood" ($23.95, Roc) arrived, I decided it was time to give them a shot.

The story centers around vampire hunter Magiere, who is a dhampir or half-vampire, and half-elf Leesil, who spent his early years as a captive assassin to Lord Darmouth. Traveling with them is a scribe named Wynn and an odd dog named Chap, that is really one of the fey. They're being tracked by Chane, a vampire that Magiere thinks she's killed, and Welstiel, who resurrected Chane and hopes to use Magiere to help him overcome his need for blood.

They arrive in Venjetz, Darmouth's city, to help Leesil come to grips with his past and discover what happened to his parents when he fled Darmouth's service. Through Welstiel's manipulations, Magiere finds herself in service to Darmouth as a vampire hunter, while Leesil has connected with a friend of his parents, Byrd, an innkeeper working with a resistance movement seeking to assassinate Darmouth and free the people. Of course, in the Warlands, things are not quite that simple.

I'm picking the story up in the fourth book of the series, and to be honest, I did feel at times that I'd understand the story a little better if I had been familiar with the first three books. On the other hand, the authors do a fine job of filling in the necessary details to make sure that readers picking the book up for the first time aren't lost and can enjoy the story.

Based on comments I've read, the previous three books offered a lot of action and battle with vampires, but this story is more of a fantasy in which one of the main characters just happens to be half-vampire. It deals much more with political maneuverings and intrigue than with stakings and beheadings, and there are some nice twists and turns to the story.

"Traitor to the Blood" holds appeal for both the fantasy fan and the vampire novel fan, whether or not you've been introduced to the characters before. It's a solid, enjoyable novel, and I'll be digging the past books in the series out and moving them to the top of the to-be-read stack.

More updates

Six new book reviews are now available on the books page. Enjoy.

Fire up the grill

I don't have anything against vegetarians. Really, I don't. I will occasionally give the vegetarians I know some good-natured ribbing, but ultimately, I'm a live and let live kind of guy. You respect me and leave me alone, and I'll do the same for you.

Which brings me to the vegetarians that I don't like -- the ones who are on a crusade to recruit me into their ranks. If you're one of those, let me make things real simple for you -- not gonna happen. In the words of the great philosopher Ron White, "I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat carrots."

What brings this to mind is the Great American Meatout on March 20, which I've been getting press releases about that tell me how unhealthy, insensitive and evil I am for eating meat. Sorry, I've never been big on guilt trips, and you're not going to lay one on me.

Let's put aside, for a moment, the fact that, to me, the title of the event is a bit of an oxymoron, and just talk about the menu at the "lifestivals," which includes items like veggie-burgers and veggie-hot dogs. Having tried a couple of veggie burgers over the years, I've got to say I'd rather eat the box they came in than the burger. It's always been odd to me that these people are so dead set against eating meat, yet what do they fashion their own cuisine after? Meat. Seems to me, if you're craving meat, then perhaps you're not quite as vegan as you'd like to think you are.

Like I said at the beginning, I've got no problems with vegetarians. If you're a vegetarian and you're happy that way, I'm happy for you. If you feel healthier, if you feel better about yourself, then that's great, keep doing what you're doing. If you don't want to eat a real hamburger or hot dog, I'm certainly not going to try to talk you into it or force you to do it. All I ask is the same consideration in return.

As far as the Great American Meatout goes, I plan to celebrate it in the best way I know how -- with a nice, big, juicy, medium rare steak.

Back from the dead

Just trying to get this place updated a little bit. With the new kid and trying to balance two full-time jobs at the office, I haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to the place (or anything else for that matter). But I've finally gotten around to getting some fresh content up. Nine new album reviews posted tonight -- and some pretty good stuff at that. I'm also working on updates on the book side. I've got six reviews ready to go up there as soon as I have time to get them posted.

Review: "My New Orleans: Ballads to the Big Easy by Her Sons, Daughters and Lovers"

The contributors' list for "My New Orleans: Ballads to the Big Easy by Her Sons, Daughters and Lovers" ($13, Touchstone Books) is an impressive one. It ranges from writers such as Poppy Z. Brite, Christopher Rice and Rick Bragg, to famous chefs, such as Paul Prudhomme and Leah Chase, to musicians like Wynton Marsalis.

The wide variety of celebrities share some of their personal memories of time spent in the city and what the city means to them. Being a lover of New Orleans myself, I was looking for essays that connected with me, something that made me smile or feel something about the city - the kind of stories you might tell over a beer with a group of friends. While some do that, others sound almost like the kind of essay you'd write in school.

Many of the essays, such as Wynton Marsalis' "Soul Model for America," are calls to action to rebuild the city. While his words, if spoken, might be a powerful rallying cry, they don't translate to that in print. Others fare better, such as Walter Isaacson's "How to Bring the Magic Back," which does evoke some of the sights, sounds and scents of the city.

One of the most effective of the call to action pieces is Randy Fertel's "Bring Back the Clowns," in which he pokes a bit of fun at his dad, the Gorilla Man of the 1969 mayoral campaign. He campaigned in a safari outfit on the platform that the Audubon Zoo needed a gorilla. It's a light-hearted reminder of the kind of characters the city has spawned and what makes it special. Balanced with Fertel's more melancholy thoughts on returning following Hurricane Katrina, it's a strong piece.

The best bits here are when the writers bring it down to a personal level instead of trying to make a broad statement about the city. Brite talks about discovering a love of bird-watching in Audubon Park. (She also scores points with me for her reference to Bobby Hebert taking over for the late Buddy Diliberto, as I've sat by the radio several Sundays this year, shaking my head and saying, "He's no Buddy D.")

Rick Bragg's "This Isn't the Last Dance" is perhaps the perfect example of what I was expecting, as he talks about strolls through the city and memories of his visits. In the essay, he voices the words said by many lovers of the Big Easy the night Katrina came bearing down, as his wife says, "I'm glad you took me there. Before."

The essays in "My New Orleans" may not all pull at the heartstrings and make you misty-eyed like you'd expect, but there are some powerful moments among the words of the city's sons, daughters and lovers. It's well worth the read for anyone who knows what it means to miss New Orleans.

Review: "The Official Guide to Christmas in the South" by David C. Barnette

Normally I don't go in for the folksy Southern Christmas books, but David C. Barnette's "The Official Guide to Christmas in the South, or If You Can't Fry It, Spraypaint It Gold" ($14.95, William Morrow), had me chuckling just from the title. I had to dig into it.

It's often been said that the funniest stories are those that are true, and that's what makes this book such a hoot. If you've ever celebrated Christmas in the South, you've been involved in a few of Barnette's jokes. One of my favorite decorating tips: "While pheasant feathers and other hunting themes are in vogue, it is never appropriate to use red-and-white ribbon to `candy stripe' rifles." To be honest, I think that may have happened once or twice at a relative's house in the distant past.

The chuckles roll from the chapter titles - "The Divinity Code," "The Gilt Complex," "Party Like It's $19.99" - to the brief summaries that introduce each concept - "Christmas is no time to go for Yard of the Month honors. The measure of a well-decorated Christmas lawn is a visit from the police regarding traffic delays in front of your home."

"The Official Guide to Christmas in the South" covers everything you need to know to experience a true Southern Christmas this year, from lawn decorating tips by used car dealers to regifting to, of course, gold spray paint.

Barnette's book is a great way to get in the mood for the approaching holidays with a laugh, and, as scary as the thought may be, perhaps a few new ideas on how to celebrate this year. It wouldn't be funny if it wasn't true.

Review: "Habeas Corpses" by Wm. Mark Simmons

Wm. Mark Simmons returns to the tale of his half-vampire hero Christopher Cséjthe in his latest novel "Habeas Corpses" (Baen Publishing, $22).

To catch you up if you're not familiar with previous books "One Foot in the Grave" and "Dead on my Feet," Cséjthe (pronounced Chay-tay, for the uninitiated) was given a blood transfusion from a vampire. The transfusion transmitted half the virus that causes vampirism without fully transforming him, making him unlike any creature seen before. In the meantime, he's caused a lot of trouble for the undead community, including in the last book, becoming Doman of the New York clan of vamps.

This time out, Cséjthe is laying low in his secluded home on the Ouachita River with his werewolf lover Lupé, his vampire protector Deirdre and a 1930s Chicago gangster vamp, The Kid. So far, they've been able to repel all the attempts on Chris' life, but then things take a strange turn. First, there's a psychic e-mail, then a special delivery of a still-beating heart in a jar and finally an attack from a nearly indestructible Frankenstein monster.

It all adds up to a trip to New York to finally take the reins of the vampire community there and try to uncover the secrets of this new threat. He soon finds those may be just the beginnings of his problems.

As in the previous two volumes, Simmons layers the story with multiple villains. There's a classic horror monster, a historical bad guy and a technological terror for Chris to tackle. To avoid giving anything away, I'll leave those up to the reader to discover.

"Habeas Corpses," as you might guess by the title, also delivers the same humor that has permeated all six of Simmons' novels. It's been said of him that he never met a pun he didn't like, and it's absolutely true. Readers will also have a lot of fun picking out the pop culture references littered throughout the book. There's just something too funny about an argument between a vampire and a werewolf about whether Buffy or Anita Blake is the best vampire hunter.

As usual for Simmons, "Habeas Corpses" provides a fun romp through the supernatural, classic horror, science and history. The story raises some serious questions currently being tackled in the real world, but refuses to take itself too seriously, a refreshing trait among vampire novels.

"Marsh Mission: Capturing Vanishing Wetlands" by C.C. Lockwood and Rhea Gary

When photographer C.C. Lockwood and artist Rhea Gary put together "Marsh Mission: Capturing the Vanishing Wetlands" ($39.95, LSU Press) they expected it to provide a glimpse of wetlands that would one day be gone. I'm sure they didn't expect those wetlands to be unrecognizable this soon.

Following the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many of the areas photographed and painted are greatly changed from the scenes depicted in this book just last year. But there's still a chance to save them, and that's what this book is all about - drawing attention to some of the beautiful and essential wetland areas of Louisiana that are in danger due to coastal erosion.

The book began with a year-long journey through the wetlands on a houseboat by Lockwood and his wife, Sue. They covered more than 5,000 miles, capturing life on the coast of Louisiana. During that year, Gary also spent time on the houseboat, painting the scenes they came across.

The result is a gorgeous collection of photographs and paintings that leave out no scenes from the area. Lockwood's photographs run the gamut from a spoonbill pelican feeding its young and misty mornings on the bayou to photos of oil rigs and the muddy waters of a diversion canal. Most of Gary's paintings depict the remote landscapes of the marshes in vivid colors. Most interesting are the times when Lockwood and Gary focus on the same subject. It's interesting to see, side-by-side, the interpretations of Lockwood's camera and of Gary's brushes.

Perhaps the most effective and haunting images in the book are in the epilogue, which focuses more on the loss and destruction than the beauty. Particularly striking is the image of a large live oak tree, now dead, its root system exposed and hanging half into the surf of a beach on Cheniere au Tigre. In the background, you can see a camp, with waves lapping at its door, that once had a road and 40 feet of beach in front of it. It's a visceral testimony to the erosion that's occurring on the Louisiana coastline.

Review: "Only You Can Save Mankind" by Terry Pratchett

Best known for his massive Discworld series, Terry Pratchett has also occasionally ventured outside that milieu for a book or two. One of those was the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy in the early 1990s. The first book, "Only You Can Save Mankind," ($15.99, HarperCollins) has just been re-released with a few, very minor updates.

Life hasn't been good to 12-year-old Johnny Maxwell lately. His parents are going through Trying Times, and the Gulf War is plastered on his television screen every night. One of his favorite escapes is a game, pirated by his hacker friend Wobbler, called "Only You Can Save Mankind." Unfortunately, this time when he logs on to blow away the invading ScreeWees, the aliens want to make peace with him. They surrender and ask for his protection.

When he falls asleep that night, Johnny finds himself at the helm of the fighter ship leading the ScreeWee fleet back to its homeworld and protecting it from other gamers. Soon thousands of computer users around the world are turning on the game to empty screens where there should be attacking aliens. Gamers aren't happy, and neither are some of the aliens aboard the ScreeWee mother ship.

On the surface, Pratchett's tale is a fun story of a boy living a video game adventure. It's not exactly a new premise. It's been around since video games first started popping up in the early 1980s, but how many of those stories have you read where the aliens surrender, changing the boy's world view?

And that's what sets this apart from the average children's science fiction novel. Anyone who has ever read Pratchett knows that he's an excellent satirist. While the satire here is a little more obvious than in his usual work, it's just as effective. The constant backdrop to the story is the 1991 Gulf War, which with the smart bombs and other technology was a lot like a video game itself.

Pratchett uses the story to illustrate the dangers of that kind of war and how easy it is to forget that we're shooting at other people. In video games, no one gets hurt. Right?

"Only You Can Save Mankind" is enjoyable for younger readers, but there are plenty of jokes for those of us that remember Atari 2600s, too. I particularly enjoyed a thread on the burned out hulls of Space Invaders that Johnny and the fleet pass. If you missed this one the first time around, now's a good time to check it out.

God's Wrath

God's Wrath.

I'ts a phrase I've heard so many times in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and now Hurricane Rita, that if I hear it again, my head might explode. I've talked to these nutcases on the phone; I've gotten e-mails from them; I've read their letters to the editor. If it weren't so sad, it would be funny.

Since New Orleans happens to be one of my favorite cities -- really the only major city I feel like spending any time at all in -- it also royally pisses me off when I hear it.

New Orleans is a city full of sin, said one caller. God is cleansing his earth of that sin. So tell me why were the vast majority of those killed, those whose homes were completely destroyed, the poor people? Why, less than a month after the hurricane, are there bars open on Bourbon Street and strippers going back to work? The famous legs at Big Daddy's were swinging again only days after the storm, while the poor people of the city are living in shelters and FEMA trailers and wondering about family members they haven't heard from. Seems to me if God were really working his wrath on New Orleans, Bourbon Street would have been the first place wiped out. Instead, it went largely undamaged compared to the rest of the city.

An e-mail from an uber-conservative Christian group that somehow got my e-mail and blasts me with 10 or 12 messages a day said that it was God's punishment because abortion is legal. Huh? What could the two possibly have to do with each other? If that was the case, wouldn't it have made more sense for God to wipe out all the abortion clinics and leave everyone else alone? Even for those that consider abortion murder, it makes no sense. When a murder is committed, do we just randomly execute people? Then why would God do that?

Of course, these are the same people who popped up after the Tsunami, saying it was God's wrath. They said God was trying to get our attention, to send a message. Which raises the question, is a God that would kill thousands of people just to make a point, really one that's worthy of worship? Looking at it in that light, I can't understand why the people that believe that God is this angry, petty child, would continue to worship him. Because if they don't they'll go to hell? Well, if God truly is the deity they believe him to be, maybe, in the words of AC/DC, hell ain't a bad place to be.

Read my review of "My New Orleans," a collection of essays paying tribute to the Big Easy.

Review: "The Mysteries" by Lisa Tuttle

People just don't disappear into thin air, do they?

That's the question that Ian Kennedy keeps running into over and over in Lisa Tuttle's "The Mysteries" ($21, Bantam Spectra).

Kennedy specializes in finding missing people. He has since his father disappeared when he was a child, the first of many disappearances from Ian's life. He eventually found his father, discovering that his reason for leaving was just a mundane, everyday reason, not the lavish fantasies that he had created. But not all of his cases have been so ordinary.

Lately, he's been hired to find Peri Lensky, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. With the help of a mother who obstinately refuses to believe in anything remotely supernatural and a reluctant boyfriend who doesn't really understand what he's seen. Ian begins to piece together the puzzle. It's a scenario that points the finger at the folk of fairy, and is disturbingly similar to one of his first cases.

Tuttle weaves the tale around a variety of Celtic myths, primarily "The Wooing of Etain." She also blends in plenty of legends of abduction by fairy folk. At first, the seemingly unrelated vignettes about people who have gone missing are jarring. But as the story continues, the reader begins to see the parallels and gain a better understanding of what's happening in the main story. What at first seems to be an intrusion, in the end makes the book richer.

"The Mysteries" takes the supernatural detective story that's become so popular and adds a satisfying extra layer of legend and folklore. Yet, it still remains the type of light and breezy story you'd expect from the genre, a quick, engaging read.

"The Mysteries" is the first novel from Tuttle since 1996's "The Pillow Friend," which is scheduled for a re-release later this year. Hopefully it won't take another nine years before we get the follow-up.

Review: "Dragonmaster" by Chris Bunch

Most of my reading lately has been in the corners where the world of faery intersects our own world. It's been a while - far too long, in fact - since I dived into a good, old-fashioned sword and sorcery story. After all, those are the tales that first hooked me on the fantasy genre.

Looking over my stack of unread books, I decided that Chris Bunch's "Dragonmaster" ($15, Roc) would fit the requirements nicely. I've got a soft spot for a good dragon story, and Bunch delivers.

Hal Kailas is a young man staring at a grim future of working in the local mines when he rounds a corner one day and finds a nobleman's son tormenting a young dragon. He stops the torture and returns the dragon to its nest, but when the nobleman threatens to make his family miserable because of the incident, Hal is forced to leave his village.

With dreams of flying a dragon, he hooks up with Altheny, who runs a traveling dragon show and promises to teach him to ride. He has good life with the man, but learns very little. Then, with war brewing, Altheny gambles away his dragon business, leaving Hal on the streets. Before he can raise the money for passage home, he's conscripted and finds himself on the front.

He gets another chance at his dreams when the army announces the formation of dragon-mounted troops to combat those of the enemy Roche army. He signs up, and finds himself on the front lines of a long and brutal war.

Bunch's tale takes a little time to build, but once Hal is enlisted, the action comes at break-neck speed. You get the feeling that Bunch is a military man. His battle scenes present visceral images of the chaos and carnage of being on the front lines. There's also a dark humor in the string of foppish, unqualified commanders Kailas finds ignoring his intelligence and sending the army to disaster time after time.

Bunch's use of dragons in battle is interesting. Since his dragons don't have flaming breath, you might expect the standard lance and sword duels from dragonback that you see in other books (never mind the fact that it would be very difficult to get close enough to have a sword duel on dragonback). Instead, Bunch uses his dragons more like modern fighter planes, developing strategic and effective weapons for his dragonriders to use.

Bunch's writing style can be brusque at times. It seems a bit strange in the more leisurely approach to the first half of the book, but it's quite fitting for the military fantasy of the second half.

The ending of this first book in the series, while not the cliffhanger type that I hate, was still a bit unsatisfying. Few issues were resolved and Kailas was only in a slightly better position than when the war started. It will be interesting to see how the situations Bunch has set up will play out in later volumes.

Review: "Singer of Souls" by Adam Stemple

First-time novelist Adam Stemple comes from good writing stock. His mother is respected fantasy author Jane Yolen, with whom he co-wrote a children's book, so there are high hopes for his first book, "Singer of Souls" ($22.95, Tor). Stemple lives up to them.

The book tells the story of Douglas "Doc" Stewart, a recovering heroin addict and musician. (He got the nickname after a drug binge that left him talking completely in rhymes for a time. His friends began to call him Dr. Seuss.)

When he finds himself back with those same friends, preparing a needle that will take him right back into his former lifestyle, he decides he has to make a major change. He flees the temptation by going to stay with his grandmother, a tough no-nonsense sort, in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he makes a good living as a street busker thanks to his innate talent to create songs about people on the spot.

It was a good choice for him, but was the choice entirely his? When he sings a song for a mysterious woman, he ends up opening the door to a strange world he never thought existed and getting himself trapped in the middle of an age-old supernatural war.

An unsuspecting human caught in a war between supernatural powers is hardly a new idea for the genre. In fact, the last book I read, Orson Scott Card's "Magic Street," had the same premise. But Stemple handles it deftly, throwing in nice twists and never quite letting the reader know where Doc stands with the folk of faery.

He also knows his music and has an eye for detail when it comes to that aspect. The book should be an interesting read for musicians, but for those who don't know the terminology, the writer's allusions to chords and scales may get a little tedious. Most of them are brief and won't interrupt the story.

Stemple has a fast-paced, breathless writing style that keeps the reader in the action. At less than 250 pages, this novel is incredibly short by today's fantasy standards, but it packs a lot of punch into those few pages. I'm looking forward to his follow-up.

More updates

Check out the nine new album reviews on the music page and seven new book reviews on the books page. (Yes, I'm still working on beefing up the music archive, too. It's just a matter of finding the time to work on it.)

As always, if anyone's got suggestions about how I can improve the place or any information you'd like to see in the reviews that you're not seeing, feel free to drop me a line.

Review: "Magic Street" by Orson Scott Card

I've been a big fan of Orson Scott Card ever since I first read his science fiction tale "Ender's Game" many years ago. While I normally prefer fantasy, Card's science fiction seems to appeal to me more. I enjoyed "Enchantment," but I'm not a big fan of the Alvin Maker series. Still, I was excited at the prospect of his latest urban fantasy, "Magic Street" ($24.95, Del Rey).

The story centers around Mack Street, who was born magically and found covered in ants in a plastic bag by a young man named Cecil Tucker in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. Ceese takes the boy to Ura Lee Smitcher, a nurse who lives in the neighborhood. She ends up adopting him, and Ceese cares for him as he grows up.

Those beginnings mark Mack as unlike the other kids, but as he grows older, he finds that he's really different. He has the power to see other people's fondest wishes and grant them - but always in a twisted way. For example, when a girl in the neighborhood wishes her father who works long hours would stay home more, he's hit in the head by an I-beam at the work site and paralyzed.

Mack develops a technique for avoiding what he calls the "cold dreams" to avoid hurting people. Then he discovers the truth about who he is and what's going on. He's caught in a war between the fairies Titania and Oberon (yes, that Titania and Oberon) and the fate of the world may be in his hands.

With "Magic Street," Card attempts to do for Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" what he did for "Sleeping Beauty" with "Enchantment." While he does achieve that to some degree, I didn't feel the same sense of wonder that I did with the previous book. Still, "Magic Street" is an enjoyable read.

There's a bit of fun to be had in the image of Titania, queen of the fairies, as a biker babe, or Puck as a dreadlocked vagrant, and there are plenty of sly references to other literary works that readers will have fun picking out.

The story itself is engaging, part Shakespeare, part W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" and part Stephen King horrorfest. The characters are likeable, if a bit forced at times. There are moments when Card seems to be trying a little too hard to make sure the reader knows the characters are black, when the story would have worked with characters of any race.

In the acknowledgements, Card admits that this is an experiment to see if a white writer can write believable black characters. It came about when a black friend questioned the lack of black heroes and why he didn't have any in his books. I'm not really sure whether the experiment succeeded. Card's characters here are serviceable, but not as fully developed and engaging as those in, say, Nalo Hopkinson's work - or Card's previous work, for that matter.

For those unfamiliar with Card, I'd recommend picking up "Ender's Game" and "Enchantment" to get a feel for the writer at his best. But, if like me, you've enjoyed Card's work for years, you should also enjoy "Magic Street."

Jared must die

Every time I have to sit through commercials while watching televison, I'm exceptionally thankful that I have a DVR at home so I can fast forward through them. Maybe I'm not the target for those genius ad executives, but most of the commercials I see just annoy the hell out of me. They actually drive me away from the products they're trying to sell.

A perfect example of this is the guy from Subway. When he started coming on TV telling us how he lost all this weight eating at Subway, I said "hooray for him, now pass me that Quarter Pounder." It didn't convince me to eat at Subway, but it didn't annoy me either. Now, the genius ad execs have given Jared a new mission in life, to put down every other restaurant's food. Now, he comes on with a smirk telling us how much fat is in this or that and how superior Subway's food is to those other guys. Sorry, but I've eaten at Subway. I wouldn't say it's any worse than McDonald's or Burger King, but I wouldn't say it's any better either. I've always believed that when you had to attack the competition, it's probably because whatever you're trying to sell can't stand on its own.

And besides, who the hell is this guy to look down on me because I choose to have a double cheeseburger instead of a sweet teriyaki chicken sandwich? It's not even like the sandwich they show on TV is the one with only five grams of fat, either. That's the one on wheat bread with no condiments whatsoever.

It struck me as funny the other day when I drove by a local Subway and saw on the sign that they're now offering pizza. Here's this guy on TV telling me that Subway is so much more healthy than anywhere else, and now they're serving pizza. I'm sure those pizzas only have five grams of fat, right?

But in all fairness, it's not just Jared. He's just been the most annoying of late. A while back there were those Truth "anti-smoking" ads. I put that in quotation marks because I came away from most of those commercials actually feeling better about the tobacco industry -- and that's sad. Then again, they were sponsored by a tobacco company, so maybe that's what they were designed to do. They always had a bunch of snotty, annoying kids pulling some kind of publicity stunt. One that sticks out in my mind had these kids sneaking through a hotel in the middle of the night, putting signs on the door knobs. My reaction to that was, "If you're so proud of what you're doing, why don't you march your punk ass in there during the day and do it?" Of course, then they might meet some of these people they're villainizing, and it would be most inconvenient to actually have someone express a differing viewpoint, wouldn't it?

But some of the most mind-boggling commercials to me are the ones that the police put on TV. Locally, we have these seat belt commercials from the state police with this macho-sounding voiceover (and you'd really have to hear it to understand just how bullying and condescending it is) saying "IF YOU DON'T WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT, YOU WILL GET A TICKET." Yeah, threats always get the desired response out of your audience. Being the personal freedom advocate that I am, I'm not the biggest fan of seat belt laws to begin with, but every time I see one of these commercials, it makes me want to get a knife and cut the seat belt out of my truck. Do they honestly think they're convincing people to wear their seat belt by threatening them? My guess is they're actually galvanizing people who don't wear their seat belt against the laws.

If you can't sell me your products on their own merit or convince me why I should do something without threats, then obviously what you're selling isn't worth buying. And even if it is, you're still not selling it to me. Maybe one day advertisers will come around and realize that the best way to get your point across is not by annoying or bullying people. Until then, my finger's on the fast forward button.

Review: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

As Harry grows up, so does J.K. Rowling's writing style, and that's as it should be.

With "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" ($29.99, Scholastic), Rowling delivers a fairly grown-up tale of the now 16-year-old boy wizard. Though not quite as dark and menacing as the previous volume, "Order of the Phoenix," this book deals with much more mature issues than the earlier volumes of the series. That, too, is proper, considering how much people change between the age of 11 and 16.

"Half-Blood Prince" opens in a world that's eerily similar to our own over the past several years. Lord Voldemort is back, the Death Eaters are reformed and the wizarding community lives in fear of their attacks. Wizards are being killed or simply disappearing almost daily. Harry, Hermione and Ron often start their morning reading the Daily Prophet with Ron asking if anyone they know has died today. It's very much like the on-edge feeling following terrorist attacks in the real world.

Even in the midst of this, life must go on, so Hogwarts reopens with a surprising new professor in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and the young wizards put their noses back in the books. One book, in particular, formerly owned by someone calling himself the Half-Blood Prince, is helping Harry to excel in potions and learn a variety of new spells that aren't taught in the classroom.

Harry has also begun private lessons with Professor Dumbledore, designed to help him better understand the enemy, and he's obsessed with finding out what his old rival Draco Malfoy is up to.

While parents have been cautioned to read this book first - and it's not a bad idea for younger kids - I didn't find it too graphic. There are some intense action sequences and a very emotional ending that, as has been widely reported, includes the death of a major character, so it may be good to discuss some of the issues along with kids.

"Half-Blood Prince" works to flesh out a lot of the deep background of the story and set up the final volume that's to come. We learn much more about the history of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. We're also hit with a few surprises along the way - one being the true identity of the title character.

There are also some allusions to other literary works. Whether intentional or not, I was reminded greatly of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" as Dumbledore and Harry take trips into the past through the Pensieve. I was also reminded of scenes from Tolkien as the two cross an underground lake to retrieve a magical artifact.

The only real problem I can find with the book was that it ended. While the earlier books in the series have been pretty self-contained, this one feels more like the first part of a two-part story. While it doesn't exactly end in a cliffhanger, it does end in a place that leaves the reader with many more questions. It creates even more anticipation for the grand finale.